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peterjoh

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Hello all, I have been reading up on all the comments from fellow mariners and this is my question. I have a new tank that is 5 months old. It is a 1500 X 500 X 500 Panarama tank. In the tank I have 2x T5 Light fittings, 2x T5 Marine, 2x T5 Power, 2x 20Kg Coral sand, Laguna Sponge, Jebo Protein skimmer, 2x Jufo Heaters, Maxijet 500, Maxijet 750,
2 kg bio balls, Lifetech 4660, 30kg Live rock, 30kg bio reef, 10kg Chicken bone.I have uploaded the photo of the tank. My question is this, I am fighting a ongoing battle with fury browm
n algae and how do I get rid of it, it is annoying me intensely. Regrads, Peter.
 
Hi peterjoh, welcome to masa, firstly do you have a sump? Secondly why do you have Chicken Bone? What is the chicken bone for, won't that leach a lot of nutrients into the system. What live stock do you have?
 
I suppose like all beginners you rely on the shop to give you what you need. The outlet has been doing tanks for the last 5-6 years and their marine tank personel is ex Durban Aquarium. My system works like this, The upliftment pump sucks the water from the sump, it runs from the main tank into the overflow and back into the sump with the chicken bone, from there to the protein skimmer system, then through a foam filter and back to the upliftment pump. All these units are seperated by glass walls. This is what my tank looks like at the moment. I have not added anything more as I am making sure my water is stable. Peterjoh
 
Hi peter, i think your problem lies with all the course substrate you have and your skimmer. The chicken bones, the sponge and bioballs trap detritus and cause nitrate and phosphate spikes if not cleaned everyday/second day. A jebo skimmer is not sufficient for your tank, and you may need to upgrade this skimmer to something rated for your systems total water volume.

So to start off, what you should do is remove the chicken bone, sponge and bioballs completely. In your sump, how many compartments are there? Because we usually have three or more depending on what you would like to put in there, but for now we can concentrate on getting your algae under control. Decrease the time all of your lights are on by two hours or so, this will give the algae less time to grow each day and it will slowly die down. What you should also do is some water changes. Replace 10% of your total water volume with Natural Sea Water or mixed sea water once a week. This will help tremendously. What water are you using to top up the water that has evaporated? Do not use tap water, only Reverse osmosis water. The most critical thing for now is the water changes, also trying to find a better skimmer soon will help greatly. How much are you feeding your fish? I suggest only feeding once a day for now and slightly less than you usually feed. This should sort you out as it did for me:) now, we need pictures of your sump and of your display tank so we can help. If you are having trouble uploading pictures i can help you out.
 
Scubaninja has covered some important points for you to consider. That Jebo skimmer is hugely underpowered for a tank your size, you need to consider upgrading to a bigger and better skimmer as soon as possible. Also some more powerful pumps in the display tank will be needed to aid in water flow, have a look at the SEIO range of pumps, very good pumps and reasonably priced.

Try to upload some photo's if you can so we can see what is going on in your tank.
 
welcome to MASA,
Scuba and Viper ahve given you enough to start with, but i would add that if you do look for seio's or skimmer, look at the second hands sales on here or contact one of the sponsors, they often have thinsg far cheaper than LFS:)
 
Here are some photos
134149342ace130f0.jpg
 
oh no i had that sump it is not good i moded it but there is not much u can do with it and just two days ago pulled it out and built a new sump
 
scubaninja said:
Hi peter, i think your problem lies with all the course substrate you have and your skimmer. The chicken bones, the sponge and bioballs trap detritus and cause nitrate and phosphate spikes if not cleaned everyday/second day. A jebo skimmer is not sufficient for your tank, and you may need to upgrade this skimmer to something rated for your systems total water volume.

So to start off, what you should do is remove the chicken bone, sponge and bioballs completely. In your sump, how many compartments are there? Because we usually have three or more depending on what you would like to put in there, but for now we can concentrate on getting your algae under control. Decrease the time all of your lights are on by two hours or so, this will give the algae less time to grow each day and it will slowly die down. What you should also do is some water changes. Replace 10% of your total water volume with Natural Sea Water or mixed sea water once a week. This will help tremendously. What water are you using to top up the water that has evaporated? Do not use tap water, only Reverse osmosis water. The most critical thing for now is the water changes, also trying to find a better skimmer soon will help greatly. How much are you feeding your fish? I suggest only feeding once a day for now and slightly less than you usually feed. This should sort you out as it did for me:) now, we need pictures of your sump and of your display tank so we can help. If you are having trouble uploading pictures i can help you out.
Click to expand...
correct,correct 100%
 
peterjoh said:
Here are some photos
134149342ace130f0.jpg
Click to expand...
hi peter, unfortunately, you are going to have to change that sump completely soon. you main tank volume is about 375 litres, so you going to need to get yourself a skimmer that can handle that volume and the extra volume from the sump. Did you do the things i suggested in my first post? you need to clean those bio-balls, chicken bones and that sponge everyday to stop them from increasing nitrates etc. Building a new sump isnt the important bit right now, you need to start trying to decrease all your nitrate and phosphate levels. Look for a skimmer Rated for about 500litres. Post a thread in the wanted section of the For Sale forum
IMarine said:
correct,correct 100%
Click to expand...
thanks man
 
in that sump there is the first chamber(left one) where the skimmer sits, then in the second chamber there is the Deep Sand Bed(middle) and the Return chamber(right). The first picture is infact very similiar to your sump, so you can see what you need to change. But for your size tank you may want to get a bigger sump, The first chamber must be big enough to fit your new skimmer and your return chamber big enough to comfortably fit your return pumps. but your Deep Sand Bed chamber but be as big as possible. Will you be able to change that sump on your own or would you like some assistance? There is a MASA beach day at sheffield on sunday, it should be very close to you so why dont you pop round there and you could get quite a lot more advice face to face from some very knowledgeable reefers.
This is the thread:
MASA Beach Day
 
Peter that you?

hows the tank going?

dallas
 
Yes Dal it is me, thought as we have moved back home after 29 years and as I do not dive I might as well see what all you divers drool about when you are down there.
 
hows the tank going?

come to the right place, these guys know there stuff

did u get my email about the meters?
 
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